Safety Proposal For Deadly Highway

A deadly nine-mile stretch of Highway 37 would be outfitted with a concrete median barrier under a proposal filed Thursday with the Senate Transportation Committee, Caltrans officials said.

Since 1990, there have been 28 fatalities, all caused by cross-over collisions, on the two-lane highway between Vallejo and Sears Point. Under the Caltrans plan, passing will be outlawed along the entire nine miles.

An alternate buffer zone may be used instead of a concrete barrier between Skaggs Island Road and Sears Point if permits needed for widening the road are not in place by the time construction starts.

The buffer zone would contain grooves in the pavement to noisily alert drivers who cross over the center line -- much like the ubiquitous raised dots that mark freeway lanes -- and illuminated, bright yellow pylons every 100 to 200 feet.

Caltrans recommended that the work, which would cost $1.2 million for the barrier and buffer zone and up to $6 million for widening the highway and installing the concrete barrier along entire stretch, proceed as soon as possible. The agency will ask the California Transportation Commission for the money next month.

Construction could begin immediately after Labor Day and be completed by mid-October.